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fron
Man 3
Trailer
What's
Up With
The Biebs?
RD
Win 3rd
NCAA Crown
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, BRANDYWINE CAMPUS
randywine’s
Dr. Zosh
Makes
Headlines
ANDREA LUISTRO |
Lion’s Eye Staff Writer, amI5495@psu.edu |
Penn State Brandywine’s own Dr. Jennifer Zosh was
featured on Fox 29’s 5 O’clock News on March 6th for her lat-
est research on the learning abilities of preschoolers. Dr. Zosh
was also highlighted in articles on Yahoo! and The Huffington
Post. The study discovered that toddlers learn new words better
when they had to compare a known word to a new word.
Dr. Zosh along with colleagues Meredith Brinster,
University of Texas at Austin, and Justin Halberda, Johns Hop-
kins University, studied 48 children ages 3 to 3 %2 whose prima-
ry language was English. During the experiment, children were
shown pictures of familiar and unfamiliar objects and learned
new and made-up names for the unfamiliar objects either by
instruction or by inference. Another experiment tested the chil-
dren’s memory of the new words and objects. Four of the six
new objects were presented to the children and were asked to
point to the objects by name. As a result, research concluded
that the toddlers’ vocabulary recall was better for the words
learned by inference instead of direct instruction. Dr. Zosh told
reporters that the results of the study don’t mean that kids can
only learn new objects by inference, but they may be more en-
gaged when it’s more of a game. Dr. Zosh plans on continuing
a follow-up study on younger children who might find learning
by inference more challenging.
Jennifer M. Zosh graduated Summa Cum Laude from
the University of Delaware with a B.A. in Psychology and a
minor in Cognitive Science. She received both her M.A. and
Ph.D. m Psychological and Brain Sciences from Johns Hop-
kins University. She has worked in the Laboratory for Child
Development under the direction of Drs. Lisa Feigenson and
Justin Halberda also during her time at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. Today, Jennifer M. Zosh is an Assistant Professor of Hu-
man Development & Family Studies at Penn State Brandywine.
Not only does she teach at the university but she also still con-
ducts research with undergraduates to help them gain hands-on
experience. Jennifer M. Zosh also has several publications in
The Origins of Object Knowledge, Journal of Child Language,
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psy-
chiatry, and Behavioral and Brain Science.
Congrats to Dr. Zosh and her colleagues on their hard
work on developing research!
Ll
Photo by Rob Ewing
Penn State to
the Moon!
Lunar Lion offers students diverse
research experiences in space
competition
REBEKKA COAKLEY
Special to the Lion’s Eye- PSU News
Without textbooks, blueprints, or even a template to
follow, Penn State students are working side-by-side with fac-
ulty in a rare opportunity to build a robotic spacecraft — the
Lunar Lion — that will land on the moon and return high-reso-
lution images, video footage and scientific data.
Led by Michael V. Paul, space systems engineer in the
University’s Applied Research Laboratory, students and faculty
in engineering, physics, astronomy, geoscience, journalism and
business are competing against the world’s rising stars in space
exploration to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE Competition.
“This is an opportunity for Penn State to establish it-
self as a leader in a growing field — a provider of the best
research and the best graduates to the commercial and private
space industry,” Paul said.
Funding for the mission comes from a combination
of philanthropy, corporate sponsors and scientific partners in
the private sector. Maria Matthews, who graduated from Penn
State in December with a doctoral degree in physics, served
as the team’s business development coordinator. Her work has
given her insight into the diversity of the space industry and
opened new doors for her in the field.
Matthews, a California native, was focused on build-
ing a career in the space industry. Her adviser told her about
Penn State’s Lunar Lion and recommended she get involved.
“There are people from so many disciplines working on this
project,” she said. “I thought I’d be here to work on systems
engineering, but I’ve learned so much more about the business
side of the project, and it’s a lot more exciting to me.” She re-
cently started a job at an aerospace start-up in Huntsville, Ala.
Paul, who himself was the spacecraft systems engi-
neer for NASA’s MESSENGER Mission to Mercury, says Penn
State is the only university leading a team in the contest. The
other competitors are privately funded. Nevertheless, he likes
his team’s chances. “With a group of scientists and engineers
who understand the difficult tasks of operating in harsh envi-
ronments, coupled with the energy and ambition of Penn State
students, the Lunar Lion can win this competition,” he said.
According to Kevin Walker, a senior from Annapolis,
Md., and the student project coordinator, about 20 students are
working closely on the project, with more joining every month.
For Walker, an industrial engineering major, participating in
See LUNAR, Page 7